Yielding driving member.



J. A. HAPNER.

YIELDING DRIVING MEMBER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. Is, 1907.

1,085,731. Patented Feb.3,1914

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" I i Jef/212% j/zw? SLW h1 @deze dfffg. l WM@ v attomwu JoHN ABAFNER, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

YIELDNG DRIVING MEMBER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Febo, 1914.

application med september 1s, 1to1. serial Nb. 393,448.

To all 'whom it 'may concern Be it known that I, JOHN A. HAFNER, a

lcitizen of lthe United States, residing at Pittsburgh, .in the county of Allegheny vand State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and yuseful Improvements in Yielding Driving Members, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to motor mechanism, and is designed as an improvement upon the invention disclosed in Letters-Patent ofthe United States No. 620,916, granted to me under date of March 14, 1899. y

The'primary'object of the invention is to provide novel and effective means forpreventing excessive strain u on asha'ft or axle when starting to revolve 1n either direction, an also to avoid the jolt, incident to the startin of the motor shaft of electrically propel ed vehicles equipped withrigid gearmg.

The l invention comprises an elastic or yielding gear provided with a' spring' to absorb or compensate for, the strain of the initial movement of a revoluble shaft.

The construction of the improvement will be fully described hereinafter, in connection with the accompanying drawing which forms apart of this specification, and its features of novelty will be set-forth in the appended claims.

' In the drawing: Figure lis a side eleva-1 `tion of a gear-wheel embodying the inven tion, in mesh with a driving lpinion, Fig. 2 is an elevation of the inner side of kone of the sections of the Wheel casing, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the wheel shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is an elevation o f a crm of the device made up of sections, sai sections being shown separated, Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are detail horizontal sections illustrating the different positions of the spring employed, Fig. 5 showing the wheel at rest, Fig. 6 the wheel moving in thedirection of the arrow; and Fig.v 7 showing the wheel as moving in the opposite direction, Fig.- 8 is an elevation of the hub shown in Fig. 4, Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a further modification in which the gear teeth of the wheel casing are formed upon a rim connected to the casing"A 10 made up by radially-disposed arms or spokes, and

Fig. 10 is a detail transverse section of another form of casing.

hReferring to Figs. -1, 2 and 3, the casing ofthe wheel consists of two counterpart sections 1 and 2, each formed With an integral bea'rln'g 3 fora, hub 4,isaid hub having o positely-disposed proJecting lugs 5. T 'e periphery of the casing is formed with gear teeth 6 adapted to mesh with a driving pinion T as illustrated in Fig. 1, and between the'two sections 1 and 2 is inter osed a disk packing 8 ofsuitable materia to deaden noise, having its periphery notched to 'register with the spaces'between the teeth of the casinor sections. Extendin from the inner side o .each of the sections and 2 are the oppositely disposed lugs 9, said lugs being ad]acent to the lugs 5 ofthe hub. Within the casing, is arranged a curved spring of a series of leaves 4some of which vary in thickness from the others, for

the purpose hereinafter explained. The

-end of the outer leaf or layer of the spring are bent to form hooks 1l adapted to engage the lugs 5 and 9, the leaves of the springs being connected by a bolt 10a.

lIn the modiiication shown in Fig. 4, one of the casing sections 1a is divided vertically, and the opposite section 2EL is dividedhorizontally to break joints with the two halves of the section 1a.

The casing' sections are formed with abutting lugs provided with orifices to receive .the rivets or bolts 13 for securing the sections together.

In Fig. 8 the hub 4 is similar to Fig. 4 and is made up of two' longitudinal sections, one section having depending integral studs 4b fitting sockets 1n the opposite section and secured by nuts 4c fitting npon the threaded ends ofthe studs.

In Fig, 9 another modification of the 'wheel casing is shown in which a series of arms 14 project radially from the periphery of the casing to the outer ends of Whlch is secured a peripherally toothed rim 15.

A still further modification of the casing is shown in Fig. 10, in which one section 16 of the casing is formed with an annular flange 17 formed with gear teeth 18, and the other section 19 is of disk form and secured to the edge of the llange 17 serving .as a cover or cap for the flange section 16. Screws 20 or like fastening devices secure the cover 19 removably.

In my former patent the inner separable cover of the spring casing is provided with .inner teeth engaging the teeth of the pinion acting as a coupling. Said pinion revolves loosely on` the armature shaft and gears with the driving mechanism of the car. This method requires an extra long, and specially -designed armature shaft, wider pinion and takes up valuable space, so that onlysmall motors can be used, and it is also very dillicult and expensive to provide the gears with gear coverings to hold grease or oil and keep out dirt. In said patent the leaves Vof the curved spring are made of equal thickness. It is well known that in the construction of flat v coil springs the leaves being ofthe same thickness, the small coils and shorter lengths will be of greater stiffness than those of greater radius and length. Hence when a curved spring is made of two or more leaves of equal thick-.

ness the strain on thevarious leaves is unequal and the spring will not have the pliability and strength it ought to possess. To obviate this difficulty I make the spring of varyin thicknesses of plates.l or leaves, that is, the onger plates being thicker than the shorter plates, the thickness should be in proportion to-the increase in the length of the plates, so that all of the plates of the springs will be of-equal stiffness.

In my present invention the spring casing is provided with teeth at its periphery thus Jforming an elastic wheel,` which may be placed on the axle of the car, and as this wheel may be of the same dimensions as an ordinary wheel, it may be placed in the same gear case, thus the elastic element would require no extra room and expensive complications.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A yielding driving member comprisying a hollow casing formed of two parts, said casing havin a central bore and inwardly extending ubs or flanges, a hub rotatably mounted in the bore of the casing, the flanges forming bearings for said hub, a yielding member connected to thehub and the casing, arranged to transmit power from one to the other, and means for connecting the two parts to each other; substantially as described.

2. A 'driving member comprising a hollow casing formed of two parts, said casing having a central bore and inwardly extending hubs or flanges, a hub rotatably mounted in the bore of the casing and having oppositely disposed lugs thereon, the bore forming bearings for said hub, 4said casing having projections on each side of the oppositely disposed lugs on the hub, and a spring engaging the lugs on the hub and the projections on vthe casing to transmit power from one to the other; substantlally as described.

3. A driving member comprising a hol-l low casing formed of a plurality Iof parts,

said casing having a central bore and inwardly extending annular flanges, a hub rotatably mounted in the bore of the casing, the bore forming bearings for said hub, oppositely disposed lugs formed integrally with the hub, there bein a plurality of projections on each part o the casing in line with the oppositely disposed lugs on the hub, a spring arranged to en a e the lu on the hub and the projectionr dgn the casg: ing to transmit powerffrom one to the other, and means for securing the parts of the casing to each other; substantially as described.

4. A yielding driving member, comprising a hollow four part casing having a central bore and inwardly extending hubs or flanges 3, there being projections on the casing, a split hub connected by studs or bolts rotatably mounted in the bore of the hollow casing and having lugs registering with the projections on the casing, and a spring engaging the lugs on the casing and projections on the hub to transmit power from one to the other; substantially as described. v

5. A yielding driving member comprising a hollow sectional. casing having a working rim, and projections on the inner walls of the casin a hub rotatably mounted in the casing, aving projections formed integrally therewith and in-line with the projections on the casing, a spring having hooked ends arranged to engage the projections on the casing and the projections on the hub and arranged to form a yielding driving connection between the hub and the casing, and through bolts extending through the members of the casing; substantially as described.

6. A yielding driving member, comprising a hollow casing' having a working rim, said casing being composedof two dished cylindrical members, each of said dished members being divided on a radial line, the line of division of one member being at right angles to the line of ydivisionv of the other member,ythe inner-wall of each-of the dished members having projections' thereon,4 a hub rotatably mounted in the therewith and in line with the projections cure the'two members to each other; subon the casing, a Vspring having hooked ends stantially as described. 10 arranged to engage the projections on the In testimbny-Whereof I ax my signature casing and the projections on the hub and in the presence of two witnesses.

arranged to form a yielding driving con- J OHN A. HAFNER. nection between thehub and the rim on the Witnesses: casing and throu h bolts 'passing through MAX H. SRoLovrrz,

both of the dish members arranged to se- C. V..BRooKE. 

